Syeda Nafisa Ahmad

The perfect New Year’s Eve dishes

There’s no better way to welcome the coming new year than with food, and these recipes are the perfect place to start from.

Easy ways of making heathy meals

Beans, herbs and tofu are often considered easy ingredients for healthy meals, but without the right mix, they could turn out bland.

Elevating the usual lunch and dinner menu

Aloo sabzi is an all-time favourite. It is a simple recipe made with basic ingredients available at home. This potato recipe goes well mainly rooti, paratha or rice.

Why must desserts be last?

We serve dessert in small amounts at the end of any meal. Eating dessert last gives the body time to digest the more nutritional components of the meal and slows down any sudden changes of blood glucose levels in the body.

The perfect formula for those perfect dinners

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH BABY VEGETABLES Ingredients

Feasting on lamb

ACHARI GOSHT Ingredients 800g mutton/lamb 4 onions

Chicken for a change

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring for 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add chicken, stock and herbs, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to boil, then reduced heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the

Fresh, cool, summer Eid

It’s almost Eid time and well, you already know that it’s also summer time. How can you escape from the scorching heat? Maybe with a gulp of icy cold water from the fridge or a guzzle of fresh juice topped with ice cubes…

Savoury chaats for chilly evenings

In a serving bowl, add potatoes, yoghurt, tamarind chutney, special spice mix, sev, papri, yoghurt, chaat masala, green chilli and serve.

Snacks and more

On a heated pan, roast the puffed rice for about 2 minutes until nice and crunchy. Take out the puffed rice in a bowl. Add crushed puri, chopped onions, chopped potatoes, coriander leaves, red chilli powder, salt, lime juice, coriander mint chutney, date and tamarind chutney. Mix well.

Microwave to the rescue

Combine meat and oil in a glass casserole. Cover, and microwave at (power level 10) for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the flour into meat, add remaining ingredients and cover, microwave at (power level 4) for 40 minutes. Stir once after 20 minutes cooking time. If meat is not fork-tender, microwave at (power level 4) for additional 10 minutes.

Chicken satay

Cut the chicken breasts into half-inch broad strips; slightly flatten them. Mix all the marinade ingredients thoroughly, add flattened chicken strips to it and leave aside for an hour.

Savouries on the side

Knead together flour, semolina, salt and ghee with warm water to make stiff dough. Keep covered for thirty minutes. Divide the dough into twenty balls. Chop green chillies and coriander leaves. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Then add mincemeat and sauté till half cooked. Add a little water, as required, to prevent charring.

Meals of memory

Ingredients 3 cups basmati rice, cooked 200gm vermicelli

Slurpy soups

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion cook, stirring for 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add green

The warm embrace of soul food

Bite into these easy, scrumptious dishes that are so heart-warming that you will wish to never leave this cheesy heaven. So be sure to try out these finger-licking-good recipes for both adults and children, and dinners and parties.

Scrumptious chicken

In a mixing bowl, add the coriander, paprika, cayenne, onion, garlic powder, white pepper, 2 tsp of salt, and brown sugar. Mix well.

We love our veggies

Steam Colocasia (kochu)

Veggie delights

Are you getting bored with your vegetable dishes? If you are, maybe it's because you are cooking the same vegetables the same way every time.

Hooked!

Wash and drain rice. Keep aside. Heat ghee in a wok, add chopped onion and stir till it turns golden in colour. Add rice and ginger garlic paste, stirring continuously. When the rice is adequately fried, add coconut milk, chicken stock and salt.

Shab-e-barat special

Finely grind cardamom and sugar. Add milk to it and cook the mixture on a low flame until it thickens.

Meals of memory

Looking for a great family-friendly recipe or something quick and easy? Then look, no further than chicken.

Meals of memory

Cut potato, carrot and cauliflower into small pieces and boil. Boil green peas. Chop tomato, green chilli, and coriander leaves.

An Indian menu

Boil gurda with some salt. When all the liquid dries up, add ghee and stir. Now add ginger, garlic paste, roasted onions, salt, black pepper, green chilli paste, and yoghurt.

Seasonal pickles

The kitchen bazars are now flooded with a variety of fresh vegetables. To make best use of them while they last, pickling them is a good option. The following are quite simple, hassle free preparations (although not necessarily made from winter vegetables) and will last a long time with proper preservation.

Pickling winter veggies

The days seem cooler and the early morning hours, somewhat cold. But even before the temperature showed signs of a changing

Out of the freezer

The post-korbani shift from meat to a diet comprising fish and veggies is slowly drawing to an end, and the eager diners in the house, gathering around the dinner table, seemingly seek meat.